THE GLOBE. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1991, 12 July 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1880.

The formation of an art society in Christchurch will be welcomed by all who have the interests of art in any form at heart. Similar societies already exist in Auckland and Dunedin, and have proved successful. The Dunedin Society in particular has done much good work towards furthering the objects it has in view, and has proved, moreover, a financial success —a no unimportant recommendation. The constitution of the Christchurch society will, it is trusted, be found to stimulate to the utmost the faculties of working members, and the general interest in artistic pursuits. The members are divided into working and ordinary members, and it is a sine qua non that each of the former shall exhibit at every annual exhibition of the society one original work of art produced by themselves. To ensure the standard of efficiency being kept up, every candidate for a working membership will have to satisfy the council of capacity in the particular line which he may take up. Judging from the number of working members that have already notified their intention of joining, there can bo but little doubt but that a considerable number of original pictures will bo on view every year besides those general works of art that may be lent for exhibition by the members possessing them. The fact also that members of similar societies in other provinces will ipso facto be members of tho Canterbury Society, should bring to our exhibition walls specimens from the brushes of artists from other provinces and pictures of a widely diversified range of scenery. The hand of goodfellowship has been stretched out by the Canterbury Society to all similar institutions in the country, and should this feeling be reciprocated the stimulus given to art should bo very considerable. And it is no unimportant matter to foster a love for tho beautiful and refined. The prosaic details of every day colonial life, and the lengths to which the pursuit of business is carried, leaves but little time to most people to cultivate the finer faculties of their nature, and, by the universal law that disuse of a faculty results in its deterioration, there follows as sure as the night follows the day, the dying out of any desire to rise above the ordinary level. In old countries this aptitndo to fall into the umcsthetic rut of commonplace mediocrity is counteracted to a great extent by tho facilities that exist in visiting galleries of art, of seeing tho finest conceptions of tho architect,

and of visiting localities hallowed by historical associations. But in the colonies those advantages exist but in a very modified form, and any attempt to raise the tone of general thought should bo eagerly welcomed. We have no wish to claim for the new society more than it can fairly bo expected to effect. But the object it has in view is a good one, and should it fail to realise all that its sanguine supporters hope for it, it will be from the fact that the material and not the will is wanting. The present is a juncture, too, when such a society may be appropriately floated. As our readers are aware, a School of Art in connection with the Canterbury College will in course of time be founded, in which, not only will the pursuits of painting, &c., bo taught, but the rising mechanic will be educated in the higher branches of his art. In England such institutions, formed on the model of the central one at South Kensington, are to be found in nearly every town of considerable size. Professors and teachers lecture and instil into the pupils the principles of art in all its developments. And the great use of those schools has been practically illustrated by the bound that our manufactures have taken in the matter of taste. It is not so long ago that universal apprehension was felt on account of the quality of the work turned out of most of the English workshops. The article might be cheap and good, but it was generally totally deficient in the most ordinary qualities of refinement. It was felt that the continental workman was far ahead of the English workman in this particular. The facilities that were granted to the former had the effect of sharpening his perceptions, and the result was an article which was eagerly bought by individuals of ordinary education. All this has, however, been to a great extent rectified by the network of educational art institutions that now cover England. And colonial manufactures in every branch will, it is evident, in like manner bo bonofitted by similar schools in our midst. The formation of the School of Art will enable our mechanics to avoid what is artistically reprehensible, and cleave to that which is artistically sound. It has been said that truth lies in a well, and it may withjequal fairness be said that true art requires a diligent search. There are a thousand forms and colourings meretriciously attractive that catch the uneducated eye, but that are in reality an abomination, because so utterly false to nature and to truth. To avoid such is the object of the artist and mechanic who takes an intelligent interest in his work, and there can be no surer way of gaining an insight into the principles on which true art is based than by attending the classes of a well-managed School of Art. . The School of Art and the Canterbury Art Society will work in the same direction, and towards the same end. The former will, of course, have a more practical and educational leaning than the latter, but the final goal willl bo the same namely, the cultivation of the higher instincts. As will bo seen by reference to another column, the purport of Mr. Peacock’s motion re the honorarium to members of the Council, was entirely misrepresented by the Press Agency telegram of last week. Mr. Peacock, in point of fact, moved that, in view of the present unsatisfactory state of the finances, the honorarium should be stopped. We have much pleasure therefore in retracting anything that may have appeared in our columns about Mr. Peacock, founded on the assumption that last week’s telegram contained a correct statement of facts.